It’s fair to say that most Liverpool fans will be looking forward to seeing the back of this season.
After an energy-sapping quadruple chase last term, Jurgen Klopp’s team appears to have run out of steam and ideas as it languishes in eighth place in the Premier League and has been soundly eliminated from all three cup competitions.
Now 13 points off the top four, even Champions League football next season is looking like an increasingly unlikely prospect, as the team has gone winless in its three league matches – four in total, including defeat to Real Madrid – since that 7-0 drubbing of Manchester United.
In a league that has often been all too happy to sack managers at the first sign of trouble, it’s notable that Liverpool’s owners have so far kept faith and look likely to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
But after a Premier League record 12 sackings this season – Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter of Chelsea being the latest victims – even Klopp joked about his job being under threat.
“The elephant in the room is probably why am I still sitting here in this crazy world? Last man standing,” the German told reporters earlier in the week.
Despite this season’s struggles, however, you would be hard pressed to find a Liverpool supporter in favor of dismissing Klopp.
The 55-year-old has turned the club around in remarkable fashion since arriving eight years ago, taking the team from mid-table to the summit of English and European football.
It is precisely this success, obtained with a thrilling brand of football to boot, that has earned Klopp enough brownie points with fans and the club’s owners to be awarded time to fix the current situation.
But while his job is safe for now, even the most patient of owners have their limits.
It’s likely Liverpool will have to show some improvements between now and the end of the season to prove Klopp can coach the team out of this slump, something he was unable to do in his final months in charge of Borussia Dortmund.
Up next on this brutal stretch of fixtures is Arsenal, a team that been what Liverpool aspired to be in the league this season.
The Gunners’ success, achieved with an entertaining style of play, was something Klopp was quick to praise ahead of Sunday’s clash.
“Mikel is building this team for a few years now and obviously the outcome is pretty impressive,” Klopp told reporters on Friday, per LFC.com. “The way they play is fun to watch, to be honest, it’s super-lively, really good football, top players on the pitch, good match plans.
“It’s not exactly what you can say about us in the moment, so that shows you what the situation is. But at least for a while we can mention, again, it’s Anfield.
“So, we are at home and still have to show reaction after reaction after reaction – we have to – and improvement. That’s what we will absolutely try on Sunday.”
Klopp said building on the “good moments” Liverpool had recently enjoyed in games – even if they have been few and far between – will be key to earning a result, but will be easier said than done against an Arsenal team that has a first Premier League crown in 19 years in its sights.
However, Arsenal has struggled badly at Anfield in recent years, losing seven, drawing two and winning just one of its previous 10 matches in Liverpool’s back yard.
Arsenal’s last win at Anfield came in 2012, a game Arteta started, but the Gunners boss is confident his team has the ability to snap that poor run of form at Anfield.
“We’ve been to a few grounds this season where we haven’t won in 17, 18 and 22 years and we have managed to do that,” he told reporters, per Arsenal.com. “So we are capable of [winning at Anfield], that’s for sure.
“We really need to embrace the moment and go for it. The team is full of enthusiasm and positivity and we know that we have a big challenge, but I see a big opportunity to go to Anfield and do something that we haven’t done for many years. That’s what is driving the team in the last few days.
“It’s very, very difficult, so we know that, and the opportunity is ahead of us there on Sunday to do something that we have done in the last two or three years, to win in places that the team didn’t do for many, many years.”
BOSTON, MA – JULY 21: Coach Jürgen Klopp of Liverpool waves to fans after a preseason friendly match … [+] against Sevilla F.C. on July 21, 2019 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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As reports emerged claiming Liverpool FC owner Fenway Sports Group was considering selling the club, it was not manager Jurgen Klopp who faced the media.
Just a few weeks back the German went out of his way to highlight the ‘ceiling’ the Merseyside giants faced in comparison to clubs like Newcastle United and Manchester City.
So it would have been interesting to know whether he viewed the statement that FSG “under the right terms and conditions would consider new shareholders” as a validation of this stance.
Instead, Klopp’s assistant, Pep Lijnders, was tasked with staring down the mass of cameras ahead of the Red’s Carabao Cup game versus Derby. The coach made an interesting concession; the managerial team was aware of the club’s position before the news broke.
“We knew before, of course,” he added, “one and a half weeks ago or something.”
This season, more than any other, soccer players and coaches have faced questions that go way beyond their regular remit.
Whether discussing financial disparity, as Klopp was ahead of the Manchester City game, or the ethics of hosting the World Cup in Qatar, which Liverpool’s manager also got hot under the collar about, the news agenda has often been far from the soccer field.
Even then you had to feel for Lijnders who took the brunt of the initial media attention and towed the regular party line well.
“First of all, everybody who saw us in the last years realized who we are as a club [and that] we have a strong relationship with the owners,” he said, adding later “what I would like to say is that I always know the owners act in the best interests of the club and they always did. I believe they always tried at least. This relationship was very important for us.”
Why now?
BOSTON, MA – JANUARY 15: Principal owner John Henry of the Boston Red Sox looks on during a press … [+] conference addressing the departure of manager Alex Cora on January 15, 2020 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
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Soccer is a sport where the thinking is often frustratingly short-term. As news of the potential sale of Liverpool broke, discussions inevitably turned to this season’s patchy form and suggestions of a major playing staff rebuild.
Also present was the theory that facing the financial might of rival owners FSG felt it had reached its limit.
“FSG perhaps acknowledge they have taken Liverpool as far as they can in their current state. Indeed, their ownership came with an accepted exit strategy,” leading writer Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo told readers.
“Like almost every other European club, simply cannot compete with that level of backing, as has been exposed by their unwillingness to spend beyond their means in the transfer market. It has prompted frustration among certain supporters, with boss Jurgen Klopp indicating he would prefer a little more risk being taken in hope of greater reward,” he added.
Former Reds defender Jamie Carragher, went even further, speculating about an even shorter timeframe of events.
“Maybe they woke up on Monday morning and read about how much Manchester City have made commercially and thought, ‘you can’t stop it, can you,” he said referring to the continued rise in revenues at the Citizens.
The truth is organizations like Fenway Sports Group aren’t responding to a recent set of financial results or a drop-off in form. These businesses make decisions based on projections over decades.
The connotations of a potential exit therefore should be viewed as a serious statement about the future of the game.
FSG’s stake in soccer’s most successful league would not be relinquished if it thought there were substantial riches to be unearthed.
The decision to explore a potential sale could be a sign they think the value of the club has peaked.
The Super League project failure
Portugal and Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo is congratulated by his former club Real Madrid’s … [+] president Florentino Perez (L) after receiving the MARCA Leyenda (MARCA Legend) award in Madrid on July 29, 2019. – The award is attributed to sport professionals by the Spanish sports newspaper MARCA. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP) (Photo credit should read JAVIER SORIANO/AFP via Getty Images)
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The greatest indication soccer is set for something of a downturn or at least a plateau can be found in the words of the leader of the game’s most famous club.
Speaking just a couple of weeks ago, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said “our beloved sport is sick, especially in Europe, and, of course, in Spain.
“[Soccer] is losing its position as the world’s leading global sport. The most worrying fact is that young people are becoming less and less interested in [soccer]. The current competitions, as they are designed today, do not attract spectators’ interest, except in the final stages,” he added.
Perez’s remedy to this predicament is of course a plan FSG was very much backing, the creation of a European Super League [ESL], the ill-fated breakaway competition which fell apart after fan anger prompted a flurry of English clubs to drop out.
The debacle prompted an extensive apology from owner John W Henry to Reds fans. “I’m sorry and I alone am responsible for the unnecessary negativity brought forward over the past couple of days,” he said in a video posted online, “it’s something I won’t forget. And shows the power the fans have today and will rightly continue to have.”
But were the ESL to have been created you have to wonder; would Henry and FSG be weighing up a sale now?
According to The Athletic, one of the titles which broke the story originally, the answer is no. “It is fair to say that had the European Super League got off the ground, FSG probably wouldn’t be looking to sell now,” the title wrote.
Predictions that the soccer bubble was ready to burst have been frequent since revenues in the sport began skyrocketing in the late 1990s.
However, history has shown the game to be economic recession-proof and now global pandemic-resistant.
It may be that FSG has called the market wrong and the next owners will oversee another equally lucrative period of growth.
But if Florentino Perez is to be believed, the sport may be approaching a high watermark where Liverpool’s owners should cash out their chips.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 01: head coach Juergen Klopp of Liverpool FC looks on during the UEFA … [+] Champions League group A match between Liverpool FC and SSC Napoli at Anfield on November 1, 2022 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stephen Welsh/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
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Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp has had enough of being asked about the World Cup in Qatar.
Although the Reds boss’s reservations about holding the tournament in Qatar are well known, ahead of the club’s clash with Tottenham, Klopp decided the time had come to switch focus to the event itself.
“It’s a tournament, it’s there, and we all let it happen and it’s fine because 12 years ago nobody did anything then. We cannot change it now” he told the media in his typically assertive tone.
“There are wonderful people there and it’s not at all that everything is bad. It’s just how it happened was not right in the first place. But now it is there, let them play the games, the players and managers.
“Don’t just put Gareth Southgate constantly in a situation where he has to talk about everything. He is not a politician, he is the manager of England. Let him do that,” he added.
The German coach wasn’t done there, he wanted, as he has a habit of doing, to flip the attention or responsibility for this moral conundrum on the people behind the cameras; the journalists.
“You more than I, let it happen 12 years ago,” he told a reporter.
They responded by reminding Klopp that the media had done more to expose the human rights issues than most.
However, Liverpool FC’s manager refused to accept this point.
“But not then, not then,” he replied.
The exchange continued with the pair debating whether the soccer community or the media held more responsibility.
Perhaps we can forgive Klopp, who was in Germany managing Borussia Dortmund at the time, for not recognizing that the premise of his argument, that the media had not done enough 12 years ago, was not accurate.
British journalism can be accused of a lot of things, but that criticism is unfair.
‘The evil of the media’
FIFA president Joseph Blatter opens the envelope to reveal that Qatar will host the 2022 World Cup … [+] at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich on December 2, 2010. Qatar became the first Arab, Middle Eastern or Muslim country to be awarded the right to stage football’s World Cup. AFP PHOTO/KARIM JAAFAR (Photo credit should read KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)
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Rewind the clock over a decade, to the FIFA deliberations for who would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup, and it was journalists who were being attacked.
According to Andy Anson, the chief executive of the failed England World Cup 2018, shortly before members of the executive committee began casting their votes ex-Fifa president Sepp Blatter, had spoken about the “evils of the media.”
This wasn’t a generalized statement, the former leader was responding to very recent investigations by British outlets.
Just three days before the vote took place, a BBC documentary was broadcast which made a host of allegations about bribery and corruption at FIFA. The Panorama show, titled Fifa’s Dirty Secrets, also made a range of claims about the bidding process for hosting the World Cup.
That expose came hot on the heels of a series of powerful articles by British newspaper The Sunday Times, based on undercover footage that allegedly showed executive committee members selling World Cup votes.
At the time, these investigations were not welcomed by large parts of the soccer community in England. The country was attempting to woo FIFA as part of a bid to host the 2018 tournament.
So concerned were they about the impact of these stories, Anson met with the BBC’s most powerful executive Mark Thompson ahead of the broadcaster and labeled it “unpatriotic.”
Gary Lineker, a representative of the English soccer community on the 2018 bid team, publicly criticized the national broadcaster for releasing something so critical of FIFA that close to the bidding.
“The one thing I was unsettled by was the timing of this week’s Panorama program, coming just a few days before the decision is made,” he wrote at the time.
“It was difficult to understand. It doesn’t affect the quality of the bid itself, but it does affect people’s emotions.”
If anything this demonstrates just how willing British journalists were “at the time” to put their neck out and demonstrates how Klopp’s assertion “nobody did anything” is not accurate.
The problem was not that the media didn’t use its power to sound the alarm, it was that the reaction to it was the opposite, this scrutiny was considered antagonistic.
Or as Vyacheslav Koloskov, a lobbyist for the Russia bid, was reported to have said at the time, British journalists “are provoking members of the committee.”
Interestingly Klopp suggests he would watch “an old documentary about the whole situation,” presumably created by journalists or media of some kind.
Rather than trying to place blame, it might benefit the Liverpool manager to read about one of the rare instances where the soccer community was inspired by investigative journalism.
Last year, I spoke to Tromsø IL midfielder Ruben Yttergård Jenssen who felt compelled to officially call for a tournament boycott after reading an article by the British newspaper The Guardian about the conditions of the workers building the stadiums.
Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp speaks to journalists ahead of the UEFA Champions League … [+] Group A football match between Glasgow Rangers and Liverpool at the Ibrox Stadium, in Glasgow, on October 12, 2022. (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN / AFP) (Photo by ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp is no stranger to the passive-aggressive jibe about an opponent.
Through trademark gritted teeth and sarcastic tone, he’s fond of the barbed comment dressed up as fact.
But in the pre-match press conference for the game against Manchester City, the German was almost theatrical in trotting out a well-worn complaint about rivals’ spending power.
To a relatively innocuous question about whether Liverpool could “compete” with the Mancunians Klopp replied: “City won’t like it, nobody will like it, but you know the answer. What does Liverpool do? We cannot act like them. It’s not possible, not possible.”
“Nobody can compete with City. You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market. No matter what it costs, you just do it.”
Clearly wanting to press home his point about finances, Klopp roped in the other two clubs known for their vast resources, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United.
“It’s just clear: there are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially. It’s legal, everything is fine, but they can do whatever they want. Competing with them? It’s not possible to deal with that,” he added.
Most curiously he then preceded to reference a comment by Newcastle United sporting director Dan Ashworth that there was “no ceiling for the club.”
“He’s absolutely right. There’s no ceiling for Newcastle,” Klopp said, adding sarcastically “congratulations – some clubs have ceilings.”
It’s not the first time Klopp has taken aim at the club, who finished 43 points behind the Reds last season, in somewhat strange circumstances.
As Liverpool FC was still recovering reputationally from being one of the driving forces behind the ill-fated European Super League, the German bizarrely compared the debacle to Newcastle United being taken over by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund [PIF].
“With the Super League, the whole world was justifiably upset about it. It’s basically like the Super League now – just for one club. Newcastle is guaranteed to play a dominant role in world football for the next 20 or 30 years,” he said.
Klopp appears to be more preoccupied with commenting on finances than any other Premier League manager, the question is why?
Where’s Liverpool’s ‘ceiling?’
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – MAY 29: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Liverpool players and staff … [+] engaging wi during the Liverpool trophy parade on May 29, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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The strangest part of Klopp’s ‘ceiling’ comment seemed to be the suggestion that Liverpool somehow had limits that were restricting its ambition.
Reaching the Champions League Final last season and challenging for an unprecedented quadruple until the last minutes of the campaign is pretty much the opposite of having a barrier to what a club can achieve.
Subsequently strengthening that squad with a record-breaking $95 million striker and making your 30-year-old star player the highest-paid employee in the club’s history, with a $60 million contract, are also not the actions of a club with a ceiling.
Liverpool did let Sadio Mane depart this summer, but the economic case for any club, regardless of resources, spending more than $100 million on contract renewals for stars in their thirties is hardly a strong one.
Five years ago it might have been possible to argue Liverpool had a ceiling when Phillip Coutinho left to join Barcelona feeling he couldn’t do what he wanted at Anfield.
But today it’s simply not true and history shows us wealthy new challengers can be a good thing for elite sides like Liverpool.
A ‘Big Two’ to a ‘Big Six’
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 22: An Arsenal fan wears a ‘Big six lol’ shirt outside the stadium prior to … [+] the Premier League match between Arsenal and Chelsea at Emirates Stadium on August 22, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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While it would be wrong to argue that heavy investment or the presence of a wealthy benefactor is bad for a club, it is totally incorrect to suggest it guarantees lofty ambitions.
For example, since Chelsea was taken over by billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2003, it has been the Premier League’s biggest spender in seven of the subsequent 19 seasons.
The noticeable thing about this investment is that it hasn’t resulted in Chelsea dominating the division. Five titles have been achieved, but sporadically, nothing like Manchester United’s sustained success of the 90s or Liverpool’s in the 80s.
With well over a billion dollars spent, Manchester United has also matched rivals Manchester City’s outlay over the past decade. But as is often highlighted the club has no title in that time and has rarely mounted a sustained challenge.
On the other hand, Manchester City, who’ve topped the spending charts six times, since its 2008 takeover by the Abu Dhabi Group, has earned six titles four of which came in the last five years.
But if investment capability or money spent always resulted in success then Chelsea and City would have monopolized the division.
In fact, the emergence of these two new powers did not lower the ceilings of any of the traditional giants, if anything the greater depth of competition has benefited the league overall.
Before the investment in Chelsea, the Premier League had a ‘Big Two’ Arsenal and Manchester United.
When the West Londoners began splashing the cash in the early 2000s Arsene Wenger, who’d just led his side on an unprecedented unbeaten run expressed concern: “It is very difficult for any club to cope with that kind of competition when there is financially no logic between what comes in and what goes out,” he feared.
Ultimately, however, Chelsea’s cash-boosted rise to the top table of the Premier League did not destroy the competition.
What happened was the number of teams challenging at the top expanded, largely thanks to increases in Champions League revenue, Chelsea and Liverpool made it a ‘Big Four.’
Fears were raised once again when Manchester City was purchased in 2008 and supercharged its spending to join the elite as soon as possible.
The result, again, was an expansion of the most powerful teams, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City made it a ‘Big Six.’
Newcastle United and the real ceiling
Protestors demonstrating with a banner gathering at the Gallowgate end of the stadium after … [+] Newcastle United host Tottenham Hotspurs in an English Premier League match at St. James’ Park. The match was boycotted by a section of the home support critical of the role of owner Mike Ashley and sponsorship by a payday loan company. The match was won by Spurs by 3-1, watched by 47,427, the lowest league gate of the season at the stadium. (Photo by Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images)
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At the top of the league, competition has not suffered from the investment, arguably it’s improved.
No side has held the title for three consecutive years since Manchester United did between 2007 and 2010. While the two back-to-back titles achieved by Manchester City in the past five years have both been earned by single points.
Spurs and Liverpool, neither of whom have been bought by billionaires, emerged as challengers for the title during that time and famously Leicester City lifted the crown.
The ‘ceiling’ that emerged in this period was not for clubs like Liverpool, whose revenues had been raised by the Champions League in the noughties, it was for teams like Newcastle United.
Until it was bought by PIF, Newcastle could not really have any hope of joining the elite, the gap in revenue and on-pitch investment was too big.
If they produced a talented player, like Andy Carroll or Yohan Cabaye, wealthier clubs with bigger ambitions hoovered them up.
Fans of sides like Newcastle may have held wild dreams that they could replicate the Leicester miracle of 2016-17 and win the title but the brutal truth is the ‘Big Six’ has held a monopoly on the Champions League places for the past decade.
So when it comes to ‘ceilings’ Jurgen Klopp should welcome Newcastle United’s burgeoning ambition, history shows the disruption caused by investment in a club outside the established elite has been beneficial.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 01: Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool reacts during the Premier … [+] League match between Liverpool FC and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on October 1, 2022 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
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Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp had enough.
The criticism of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s defending, which was background noise before last season’s Champions League Final, had become a regular part of the mainstream agenda.
So Klopp did what good managers do, he went on the offensive.
“The first thing you do if you judge a player, you think about his overall package – and the skillset he has for being influential in possession is mad for a right-back,” he told the media before Liverpool faced Brighton & Hove Albion.
“I don’t know if you ever saw a right-back like this where you think, ‘OK, passing here, passing there, switching side, crossing there, free-kicks, corners, all these kind of things, smart decisions, quick decisions.’ He’s an outstanding football player.”
But Klopp didn’t just want to highlight the positives, the Liverpool manager confronted attacks on Alexander-Arnolds defensive capabilities too.
“First part of the season, we, as a team, didn’t defend well. That’s the truth, we know that, we saw it,” he continued.
“As a defender, Trent is involved in that – but […] we, as a unit, didn’t defend well. That’s why defending is an art, if you want, because everything has to work together.
“Offensively, one skill, one guy makes a difference, goal. Defensively, one guy defends the whole pitch, not possible. So we need everybody involved and we were not good at that, that’s the truth – my responsibility.”
Unfortunately for Klopp, his efforts to deflect the individual criticism of the right back fell on deaf ears.
When Brighton raced to an early two-goal lead and left Anfield with a 3-3 draw it was Alexander-Arnold who was in the firing line once again.
Memes of the young Liverpudlian slumped on the floor flooded social media along with clips that supposedly highlighted his frailties.
But Klopp is right. The truth is Alexander-Arnold is being treated unfairly and making him a scapegoat for a team not quite at its best is a major mistake.
The other side of the coin
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 04: ( THE SUN OUT,THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT ) Trent Alexander-Arnold of … [+] Liverpool celebrates after scoring the first goal during the UEFA Champions League group A match between Liverpool FC and Rangers FC at Anfield on October 04, 2022 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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In many regards, the continued attacks on the 23-year-olds abilities are part of a long-established pattern with young talented English soccer players.
When an exciting homegrown prospect emerges, the British media hype machine whirs into gear praising the youngster to the heavens.
Alexander-Arnold’s emergence was greeted with the usual salivation from media pundits and online commentators quick to label him the ‘best right back in the world.’
But everyone knows plaudits become punishment if standards slip or a rough patch is encountered. The same voices who lauded the talent will eviscerate without a second thought.
An insight into the merciless calculation that goes into this was provided by media personality Piers Morgan in a documentary about the life of one of England’s most revered and then abused talents, Paul Gascoigne.
“I always love the mythical notion that there’s nothing newspapers like more than to build them up and knock ’em down,” says in a clip archive clip used in the series, “we build them up, they knock themselves down. And if they make the wrong choices then they pay the price of their fame.”
For Gascoigne, it was problems off the field that meant he never fulfilled his full potential.
Alexander-Arnold’s frailties are firmly on the pitch, but that’s why context and nuance are even more important when assessing his current shortcomings.
Becoming a right back at 17
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 7: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Trent Alexander-Arnold of … [+] Liverpool and Angel Tasende of Manchester City in action during the Liverpool v Manchester City Barclays U21 Premier League game at Anfield on February 7, 2016 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
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The response to Jurgen Klopp’s statement that Alexander-Arnold’s skillset “is mad for a right-back” is simple; that’s because he isn’t one.
Unlike many other players who spend their formative years honing their skills for a specialized position on the pitch, the Liverpool star made the switch to fullback as a seventeen-year-old.
Before then, the youngster used his ample creativity to pull the strings in central midfield or ping in crosses from the right wing, he even dabbled as a ball-playing center-half.
But such areas are amongst the hardest for an untried youth prospect to break into, they are where clubs like Liverpool make their biggest investments.
Full-back, however, was not an area where the club was particularly blessed with talent, so the precocious youngster decided to adapt his game to where the opportunity lay.
The process wasn’t easy, former Liverpool youth team coach Neil Critchley has revealed how he used to put the youngster under severe pressure in training to see if he could handle playing in his new role.
“If the winger was getting success against him in training, we just used to keep giving him the ball,’ the trainer said, “some days I’d think, ‘I’ve got Trent here; he’s going to quit.’ And the next day he’d come back and it was as if he was like, ‘Right, I’ll show you.’”
This determination eventually led him to the first team where he went from strength to strength.
‘Obscene numbers’
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 04: Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool during the UEFA Champions … [+] League group A match between Liverpool FC and Rangers FC at Anfield on October 4, 2022 in Liverpool, United Kingdom. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
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Alexander-Arnold’s rise has been meteoric, as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever right back’s Gary Neville pointed out his numbers are incredible.
“If you look at Trent’s stats in the last four seasons since 2018 [44 assists, 315 chances created] – that is absolutely obscene,” Neville said on Sky Sports Monday Night Football.
“Just to put that into perspective, I played 400 games in the Premier League and had 35 assists, he’s got 44 in his last four seasons at the age of 23. It is absolutely ridiculous. I cannot believe those numbers.”
The point the former Manchester United man went on to make was that when it came to defending he was still not completely there.
While Liverpool was dominant these flaws were less exposed, but the rough start to this season and the patchy form of his colleagues have meant his weaknesses have come to the fore more regularly.
His advice? Work at it, bite the bullet and put the hard yards on the training pitch as he did with Critchley years ago and if he does, even diehard Manchester United fan Neville admitted, he could be the greatest of all time.
